Shooting Star
by kannedsoup
Summary: Ryuusei no Rockman AU A shooting star is just another star, after all. The only time it's really noticed is when it falls from the heavens...Would you still know right from wrong if it meant nothing to you anymore?
1. Prologue

*～*Star light, star bright*~*

First star I see tonight,

I wish I may, I wish I might,

*~*Have the wish I wish tonight.*～*

There are few in this world who can look up into the night sky and honestly admit that it means nothing to them. The mysteries contained in that lone, starry scene puzzle even the greatest minds with its vast depths. Perhaps that is something both the great and the naive have in common: the ability to dream of the whispers of heaven's lights. The stars that fill the empty black sky are the most tangible of all of heaven's mysteries. They guide us and taunt us, they thrill us and confuse us. Yet the most thrilling of the stars are those that choose to break free of their bondings and shoot across the sky.

What is a shooting star? The burning light that follows in its trail never ceases to amaze. But does it regret not having a place to return to or call its own? Is it lonely in its chosen path through the emptiness of space? Does it even have purpose for its existance?

Many people go through their life without the experience of seeing a star streak across the sky. But nobody ever forgot the day when a pair of stars, marred by the greys of suffering and pain, tumbled from their place in the heavens for reasons never fully understood by the both of them.


	2. Unchangeable

"Are you paying attention, Subaru-kun?"

The question, directed to a young boy in the back of the class, inspired little interest among the class. Why should it? It was a question that had become routine, without the need for anybody to actually look up and witness it. The young boy with gravity-defying brown hair turned his glassy gaze to his inquirer. "Hai, Ikuta-sensei."

As his teacher frowned slightly, the class tittered, hoping that for once the teacher would give the troublemaker a good reprimanding and be distracted from lecturing. They were sorely disappointed. "Then perhaps you wouldn't mind looking at the board rather than out the window," he scolded lightly, gesturing to the faintly glowing screen behind him. He turned his attention back to the writing. "Now class, this phenomenon is known as..."

Subaru scoffed under his breath before returning his gaze to the window. Deep brown eyes narrowed as they scanned the cloudless horizon, the bright blue sky as taunting as ever. What had the teacher said about clear skies? Some garbage about hope and endless possibilities, no doubt. He snorted; it had been sunny nearly every day for the past three years, and his life hadn't changed whatsoever. His father was still gone, and his mother couldn't care less about him. Yup, things sure were looking up.

He idly traced the red fabric on his palm, Ikuta's lecture buzzing pointlessly in his ears like an unswattable fly. Apparently his teacher had just asked a question, for a girl in the front immediately shot her hand up, her blond curls bouncing wildly. Subaru played the next part out in his head. The Class President, as she liked to be called, would triumphantly think of the most wordy answer she could and spend ten minutes listening to herself talk. Then her minions- two boys as different from each other as they could be- would cheer her "name" and be overall idiots. The scene played out exactly as it was laid out in his mind several minutes later. By that time Subaru had completely lost interest, although most of the class had joined him in staring at random spots of the classroom's carpet and ceiling. Loud whooping and cheering brought most out of their stupor, as the two idiots once again made fools of themselves. Some of the other students cheered too, but only because they were glad that the Class President's speech was finally over. Even Ikuta yawned a little as he thanked the bubbly girl, neglecting to mention the fact that she had taken his entire lecture and used nearly all of it in her answer.

With at least one of his students well aware of the topic, Ikuta launched into yet another tangent in the oh-so-wonderful world of...what were they studying again? Subaru groaned and sank lower in his seat, his chin nearly touching the top of the desk. The old-fashioned clock in the back of the room whirred and ticked softly, counting down the minutes with its dull black hands until they were free from the prison of the classroom. _Tick, tock, tick, tock... _He swore that stupid clock was hypnotizing him or something. He glanced backwards. Still another half hour to go until lunch. Why did Ikuta even want such an old-fashioned, annoying clock? _Tick, tock, tick, tock..._ Stupid clock. Subaru's eyes drooped as he struggled to stay awake. Then again, why was he even bothering? It didn't really matter to him, no matter how he looked at it. Noting the pointlessness of it all, he let himself drift off, resting his head on his arms.

The only person who saw this was the shorter of the Class President's two groupies, who whirled around to whisper this information into his leader's ear. Her eyes immediately lit up, although none could tell whether it was with joy at being given a chance to prove her worth or with anger at somebody being so disrespectful. Either way, those closest to her took shelter by plugging their ears with their fingers.

"Ikuta-sensei!"

Ikuta winced a little. The Class President's voice was too high-pitched sometimes..."Hmm? Do you need help with something, Shirogane-kun?" he murmured, not looking up from the data in the Transer on his wrist.

The Class President huffed indignantly, "Hoshikawa-kun fell asleep again! Should we wake him up?" Her two groupies stood up at this, all too happy to oblige.

"Ah..." Ikuta paused, his eyes falling first on the threesome and then on the slumbering child in the back. Even while he was sleeping, Subaru seemed to harbor a light scowl. The teacher sighed and shook his head, his brown mushroom cloud of hair waving about slowly. "Just let him be for now." Ignoring the stares of several incredulous students, he sent the data from his Transer to the projector and proceeded to teach his class.

The jarring ring of the bell woke Subaru from his short nap. Students quickly filed out of the room, chattering happily and clutching lunchboxes tightly in their hands. Subaru stood up sluggishly, staggering slightly as he made his own way to the door.

"Subaru-kun..." He turned slowly to face his teacher, who smiled slightly. Perhaps today would be a better day.

"Hai, Ikuta-sensei?" Subaru asked. There was no emotion behind his words, nor was there any flicker in his eyes that would reveal his feelings to the outside world. Nothing different than what had become habit for far too long.

Ikuta sighed a little as he pondered his next question. He was sure of what answer he would receive by now, but what else could he say? "Are you alright, Subaru-kun?"

The student shrugged. "I'm fine. May I go to lunch now?" It was the same question his teacher had asked him for three years, and he had given the same response as he had for three years.

Truly nothing had changed, as far as Ikuta could see. Nothing ever did, it seemed. "Yes, go ahead." The teacher sadly watched as his once favorite student pushed the door open and walked out, silent and clutching a bright yellow pendant tightly in his hand. And as the door swung shut, Ikuta Michimori felt that whatever bond had linked the two before had shattered once again, just as it had done with every passing day.

The branch swung erratically as Subaru hoisted himself up the tree, causing showers of golden leaves to spiral to the dirt. Somewhere about halfway up the tree was a perfect spot to sit and relax, a place that Subaru was sure nobody else knew about. True, the roof of the school probably had a much better view of the sky itself, and the cafeteria had more conventional places to sit, but this was the only spot with ensured privacy. He clambored onto the makeshift seat and leaned back against the rough bark, allowing as close to a breath of contentment as he could muster. He was never happier than he was at this spot, although he couldn't exactly say that he was happy in the first place. Flicking the green lenses of his Visualizer over his eyes, he sought out the gently curving denpa that travelled through the air, sliding down a path invisible to him even with the Visualizer.

A cool gust of wind rustled the remaining leaves on the tree, making Subaru shiver. He wrapped his red jacket more tightly around himself, still gazing up at the invisible. For a moment, the denpa gathered and swirled in a radiant cloud, making Subaru lean forward expectantly. But the cloud dispersed soon after, and he settled back in his seat, frowning in frustration.

It was just a feeling in his heart of some sort. Something that had been missing was demanding to be found. He wasn't sure why he sought to find this missing thing in the denpa waves or why he even bothered with finding it at all. Yet...something wasn't right. He understood that much.

Maybe finding the missing piece would make him happy again. He would've done nearly anything for that.

Anything...? Yes, anything. He was long past desperate.

He would look for eternity to find that missing piece just so he could be happy once more, even if he had no comprehension of what he was ever looking for.


	3. Normality

The sun lanced across the bright blue sky, warming those below with its gentle caress. Birds carved their way through the air, a slight wind feebly pushing them away from their far off destination. People busily made their way on the streets, chatting happily under the soft sunlight.

He ignored them all.

Subaru huddled in the shadows of the buildings, avoiding contact with the passerby. He considered it a skill of his to be able to sneak away at the end of the school day without anybody noticing. Then again, who would care if they noticed him? He stood up, brushing off whatever dirt that had decided to stick to him, and made his way to the street. Despite the fact that it was only early afternoon, there weren't many things he could do. He could always go home...but then he would be at the mercy of his stressed mother when she came back from work. That option was automatically crossed out. He could always go to Vista Point, but what was the point in going there in broad daylight? So the one other place he felt comfortable at would be...

"Ah, Subaru-kun!" The only overly optimistic person Subaru could tolerate ushered him through the door and into the cool air of the research building. The familiar scent of something burning wafted through the hallway. Somebody, most likely one rather eccentric inventor, must have created some new -_and probably useless-_ gadget. Judging by the lack of frenzied panicking among the rest of the scientists in the facility, it had not exploded as most inventions had. _Too bad then. Could've used something interesting to watch. Ugh, it smells like burnt rubber._

Amachi Mamoru allowed himself a small grin at his companion's slight look of disgust. "Sorry about the smell. Utagai's experiment nearly ex-...ah, didn't go quite as well as we hoped."

_If it failed, why do you still sound so cheerful?_ Chiding himself for letting his thoughts flit across his face, Subaru carefully slipped his usual mask of indifference back on. In a voice calculated to match his face, he allowed his curiosity to overcome the monotony of the day. "And what was this one supposed to do?"

Getting Subaru to participate in a conversation seemed to be one of Amachi's everyday goals in life. The smile that split his face certainly supported that idea. "He said it was supposed to utilize denpa waves in a new way," he provided happily. "He mentioned something about making it materialize in the visible spectrum so they would be easier to use. After all, nobody besides you really has the ability to see denpa."

With a well-hidden snort, Subaru took the glasses in question off his head. The greenish tint of the aptly named 'Visualizer' flashed a few brief rainbows, reflections of the denpa bouncing through the building. It was a one-of-a-kind invention of his father's, an accomplishment he had been so proud of that it was a wonder why he had forgotten them in his decision to leave home. No matter the case, Subaru had snatched them from his father's desk and become accustomed to wearing them, much to his mother's chagrin. He slowly fingered the smooth surface of the glasses, lost in the memories of 3 years past.

Amachi sighed, realizing he had once again hit a forbidden topic. It seemed that the list of conversational taboos was never ending, judging by how often the boy fell silent. He gently placed his hand on Subaru's shoulder, who flinched at the sudden contact and met the adult's eyes with his own dull brown ones.

"Come on, Subaru-kun." Disappointment at yet another failure flickered across Amachi's expression for a split second as he turned away from the child to shut the door. The smile slid back on, halfheartedly as usual, as the pair adopted their usual pattern of silence and quiet murmurs. Like always, they toured the experiment room as several harried assistants scurried about, scraping the last of the burnt rubber off the walls and tables. In their midst, a lone scientist scrambled on the floor, searching for a lost part that only he seemed to know existed. He managed to ignore the pair approaching until Amachi cleared his throat.

"Utagai!" Said scientist managed to jump to his feet at the sudden exclamation, a remarkable feat for somebody who was previously on all fours.

Utagai rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "A-Amachi-san! S-sorry, I didn't notice you there," he stuttered, eyes nervously glancing at Subaru. The boy simply turned his gaze toward the wall a few steps away.

Amachi shook his head. "I told you the -san wasn't necessary," he grinned. "After all, we're friends, right?"

"A-ah, yes! Of course!" Utagai was stuttering madly by now, gaze shifting side to side.

Inwardly, Amachi was slightly concerned. Why did everybody near him dislike talking? "So have you figured out what went wrong?" he pressed. Hopefully somebody would start actively talking to him soon because if nobody did, he would start thinking something was wrong with him.

His face immediately brightening, Utagai suddenly became animated. "Of course!" he bubbled. "There was a slight miscalculation in the conversion chamber, which led to a build-up of radioactive residue. Then the vacuum wave's motor overheated, which led to a failure in the power grid, furthering the damage to..the...eh..." He had started staring at Amachi's companion sometime during his rant, and his trail of thought had quickly vanished.

Amachi followed Utagai's gaze to the child, who was still pointedly staring off in a different direction. Ah, that could be the problem. "W-well you can tell me the technical stuff later," he said over Utagai's mumbles. "Was that part that came off important?"

The anxious look on his partner's face quickly changed to panic. "Ah, I forgot!" Utagai whirled about, eyes frantically scanning the floor. When the piece remained elusive, he groaned and put a hand to his face. "That part was essential for the frequency exchanger," he mumbled. "It took me ages to figure out how to correctly calibrate it while scaling it down in size so it wouldn't block the wave emittor."

"Is it that thing?"

Utagai jumped again at the new voice before bolting to the spot Subaru was pointing at. Within milliseconds Utagai had snatched the tiny golden cube from the ground, cradling it like an infant. "It's completely intact! Thank the heavens, thank the gods, thank...thank..." He spun around sharply. "And th-thank you too!" he stuttered to Subaru, shining eyes radiating gratitude.

When Subaru made no further comment, Amachi coughed lightly. "That's great, Utagai!" he cheered, smile somehow reappearing. "How about we go to your workroom and start fixing this machine up then? Subaru-kun here has already seen everything happening today." Amachi turned to face said boy, eyes just as bright as Utagai's. "You don't mind cutting the tour a little short today, do you?"

It was fairly obvious that Amachi was just as excited as Utagai, if not more. Subaru vaguely shook his head, which Amachi immediately took to be a positive answer.

"Great! I'll see you later then, Subaru-kun!" Surprisingly it was the more timid of the two scientists pulling the other down the hallway. Had Amachi not been holding onto the other, Subaru was certain Utagai would have started skipping through the building in glee.

_His experiment nearly blew up, yet he feels the need to drag people in his excitement? What an idiot._Well, at least the visit had taken some time from an otherwise dreary day. He flipped open his Transer as he walked through the hallway. 5:24 PM. It wouldn't be getting dark for another good hour or so, but he could always just wait around Vista Point for a while. With a new destination set in mind he exited the sterile air of the research building, continuing his schedule only slightly earlier than usual.

One of the many things he found he could enjoy at Vista Point was the lack of people. Less people meant less noise, less noise meant less annoyances. Like people. Ah, what a wonderful cycle. The other thing was that the spot was far from the center of the city. Few skyscrapers existed that far out, freeing the sky from their strangling grasp._ Almost like a bird finally freed from a cage. I wonder what that feels like._

Subaru stopped at a spot just beyond the reach of a shadow from a tree before flopping to the ground. The sun had just started setting on the hilltops, lighting the sky with luminous shades of red. The clouds high above him were slowing greying out of sight in comparison, blocking the sky in dreary patches. _Just awesome. Cloud cover tonight._ The reds began dying down as the sun neared the horizon. _5...4...3...2...1._ As the sun dipped out of sight, Subaru let out a sigh. Definitely no green flash of light. Who was the idiot that told him the sky flashed green at sundown?

The lights at the edges of the small park flickered on in dull flashes. It was completely abandoned by now, save the one lone child. Deeming the sky dark enough to stargaze, he leaned back on his hands and stared toward the heavens. Faint outlines of clouds greeted him in place of twinkling specks.

In a fit of frustration, Subaru growled and threw himself onto his back, knocking the Visualizers over his eyes in the process. Well the colorful swirls above him weren't even close to stars, but they would have to do.

Over the years, the amount of denpa the city depended on had grown in ridiculous increments. The airspace was chock full of the waves, which ducked and weaved around each other gracefully. Most were a light purple color, often pulsing with bright flashes of yellow. Strange how the green lenses of the Visualizers made everything look purple, rather than green. That was probably just a result of seeing the city at night though.

He tried flicking the glasses back up onto his forehead. Grey clouds replaced the purple. _Stupid clouds._ The Visualizers were immediately back over his eyes. The swirling waves were comparable to those of the ocean. They gently pulsed with light, often disappearing one moment and reappearing the next. It was impossible to keep track of just one of the waves, for it would vanish into the sea of others within seconds. His father had shown that part of the ocean to him too, long ago during one of those trips to the beach. How many years ago had that been? Six or seven at least. Funny, it felt more like a lifetime or two ago...

Shaking his head vigorously to rid himself of unwanted memories, Subaru focused back on the present as his head stopped spinning. No. No. That was the past, a past which didn't matter anymore. Now there was only the present, which simply served as a placeholder until life stopped being pointless. If the universe disagreed with him, it never showed it, allowing the denpa to quietly twist by as it always had. Nope, nothing out of the ordinary in the slightest. Except...that didn't seem very normal.

His eyes shot up to the heavens, watching a speck almost directly above him. Unlike the regular denpa in the airspace, the speck was growing steadily. Then it was a dot, and then it was a vague blur. Stranger still, it seemed to be approaching the ground, rather than flying off to some random electronic destination. _Wait. It's not coming directly down here, is it?_

Just before Subaru decided to stop being stupid and get out of the way, the blur paused briefly. A second passed, and then another. Without warning, the blur exploded into several multicolored bursts of light. Each light streaked off in a different direction, leaving blazing paths of neon in their wake.

_Wh-what the HECK was that?_That...was definitely out of the ordinary. No gentle pulses of light from those...things, all of which seemed to burn with a violent brightness. No soft, rainbowy colors, but rather shades capable of blinding unlucky bystanders. That bystander being the lone child at the park.

Seeing a decidedly large number of aftermirages from the explosion, Subaru sqeezed his eyes shut as he lay back on the grass again. Well the stupid lights hadn't hit him, so whatever they were, they had nothing to do with him. _Maybe they're runaway aliens, escaping to a planet with little to no knowledge about them._He entertained the thought for a while. They had fallen from the sky, after all. And then there was that odd movement, sharp and strong in comparison to the flowing movement of the usual denpa. But they were still just lights and waves, so it was probably just some signal from a new satellite or something. Oh well, the thought was interesting while it had lasted.

He slowly opened his eyes again, half-expecting to see some sort of light monster standing over him. But no, the purple airspace was the only thing to meet his eyes. Shoving the green lenses off his eyes for a moment, he was pleased to see that a marginal amount of the clouds had disappeared, leaving a bit of space for the stars to shine through. A small cluster there...was that part of Cygnus' wing? Or perhaps it was part of Cancer. He had never been great with constellations anyways, the inner workings and functions of stars being much more meaningful to him than the shapes they could make.

Another few stars peeked out, and then a couple more. _Much better._ He could identify a few of them now, noting their brightness and distance from each other.

There were just a few things that were puzzling him now, the incident with the lights from before having passed from his mind. The biggest ones at the moment, though, were the three stars that had decided to shine for the first time that night. One unrecognizable star was one thing, but three right next to each other? They seemed abnormally bright, outshining the stars closest to them and radiating light like the moon. Intuition chose to kick Subaru in the shin at that moment, and he flicked the Visualizers back on. If at all possible, the stars were brighter even with the nearby denpa blocking them. In fact...

He blinked. The denpa around him had seemingly frozen, vibrating in place rather than curving slowly. No, scratch that. The waves were slowly gathering into a clump, which stretched towards the three odd stars. He started to look up again and cursed when the light from the stars succeeding in blinding him yet again. The glasses came off in a split second so his hands had free access to his eyes, which he rubbed until the light patterns stopped appearing.

There. Without the Visualizers, he could look skyward without damaging his eyesight any further. The denpa was now invisible to him, but the three lights were as bright as when he had first seen them. They were bouncing slightly, circling each other...and similarly streaking down to Earth. Had the evening been a little less eventful, Subaru would have just thought there had been a huge meteor shower that night. The shooting stars were spiralling downwards, once again in his direction. _Wow. Lucky me._ He got to his feet, still watching carefully. They were plunging towards the ground now at an extreme rate, each steadily growing to become much larger than the earlier lights. Closer...closer...

BAM. The three stars smashed into the ground a good hundred feet away from Subaru, raising a shock wave that threw the boy back to the ground and creating yet another multicolored explosion. _If my eyesight isn't gone by the end of today, then I'll consider the possibility of miracles._ He raised himself to a sitting position, coughing out a cloud of dust in the process.

His eyes were still reeling with mirages when a deep voice interrupted his concentration. "Well, well, well," it rumbled. "What could we possibly have here?"


	4. Compromise

"Well, well, well. What could we possibly have here?"

From his vantage point on ground, Subaru wasn't sure if he was supposed to be impressed by whatever was talking. Then again, he could barely make out a clear shape thanks to the dust that had been thrown up when the light exploded in front of his face, which had the added bonus of making him cough. Didn't those stupid lights have any decent sense of courtesy?

"Just leave it. It appears to be one of the kinds of slowlife that inhabit this planet."

Huh. There was more than one thing there. Lucky him. _Hey wait, what did that thing just call me?_ "I can hear you, you know," Subaru snapped at the dusty air. "Do you _mind_?"

Silence hung over the newcomers for a brief moment before another one of them barked out a laugh. "Aggressive little guy," it snorted. "I like him already."

The first one seemed less impressed. "You're not keeping him. And he's only like that because he has no idea what's going on. Besides, we have our mission..."

"But it is interesting," the second one mused. "He shouldn't be able to hear us at all if he is truly one of the slowlife. Perhaps we should 'keep him' as you suggest and see why."

They continued to bicker as the dust started settling. Subaru could make out a few vague shadows thanks to the light each one gave off, but was it just him, or were they flickering? Not to mention how fuzzy their shapes were, even through the dust. Two of them looked rather bulky, though one was a bit taller than the other. The third one was long and slender, rather like a snake. And they were all at least three times his size. This day was getting better by the minute.

He frowned as the dust cleared, despite the fact that it allowed him to finally breathe without coughing. The three beings were still there, but they were still heavily shadowed and distorted. _Weird. Why do they look like some cheap projection? Unless... _Well they had come from the sky, like the lights from before. So maybe...

Flicking the Visualizers so they came to rest in front of his eyes again, Subaru nearly fell over in surprise. _Well THAT'S never happened before_. Instead of the curving rainbowy lines that indicated the "life" of the Wave World, the three beings had solid forms that were clearly separate from each other. _But why could I see them before?_ He pushed the glasses up again and stared. They weren't as clear as they had been with the Visualizers, representing lightly colored blobs of static instead of the definite forms from before. Yet if anybody besides him were watching, he was pretty sure they would be able to see the three lights bobbing up and down in the dark.

"So that's what he looks like? Not very impressive."

The Visualizers dropped back down as Subaru realized the beings had turned their attention back to the...what had they called him? Oh yes, the _slowlife_.

The owner of the first voice, as well as the one who had just lovingly called him unimpressive, was a pale blue horse. If horses had wings, anyways. The winged horse flared with an azure aura that managed to chill the air with its flame, rather than burn it. And those eyes..._and everybody thought I looked like a cold person. If only, if only._

A reddish orange lion that flamed with the colors of a sunset growled. "And yet he argued with a being far larger and stronger than himself," it smirked. "More impressive than he looks, it would seem." There was less of a compliment behind the lion's words than there was threat, as its fangs glinted in the light of the others. At least this one had said it liked him.

"Arguing with a superior being is not bravery, but stupidity. Perhaps he is impressive in his stupidity."

And now they had gone back to insults. It was a dragon that spoke this time, possessing a wildly swirling green aura that matched its own forest green body. Much like the lion, it possessed rather sharp looking teeth. _So it's all bark AND bite at the same time. Ugh, that was corny. _He shook his head to get it out of the gutter.

_So there's a horse that thinks I'm lame, a lion who thinks I'm funny, and a dragon that thinks I'm an idiot. _Three beings that could probably squish him with one claw or hoof, suddenly appearing in front of him in the course of five seconds. _Is it my birthday or something? Things are _definitely _not getting any luckier than this. Yay for me._

On the upside, they were arguing amongst themselves. On the contrary, they were arguing about him, and none of them seemed willing to jump in front of him in case a bit of fire was...misplaced. It was such a thankless task to be a witness of nearly nothing.

As the lion and horse creatures continued to bicker, the dragon suddenly poked its snout upward. "This is it," it grumbled, whiskers twitching. "The wave residue splits off here, so we can assume they tried separating to protect themselves. Fools, the lot of them."

The eyes of the lion glinted sharply. "This may be troublesome. Finding them all will be difficult if the humans here can see us."

"But we cannot let them be," the horse snarled. "They are the followers of that weak-minded wretch of a king. We cannot show our vulnerability if we are to retake control of what was rightfully ours. We must and shall continue on with the mission."

"And disturb the ones who inhabit this planet? It would be irresponsible to involve those who are unaware of our situation. We would not be so wise then if we were to induce panic on a completely unrelated system," the dragon countered. "There must be a way for us to track them without making our presence known."

Growling in frustration, the horse tossed its head angrily. "Then they should learn to look the other way when we come down. We will be doing them a favor by ridding them of those accursed fools! And," it added, "this is a result of that human's interference as well! The humans are just as responsible for this as that moronic king!"

"_One_ human was responsible. None of the others seemed fully aware of the cause of the disturbance, and therefore none of the others should be held at fault." The dragon's green aura spiked violently. "We _will not_ disturb this planet more than it already has been!"

"And if they reveal themselves to the humans? Then what will come of hiding our presence? The humans _will_ discover us, one way or another! The longer we delay, the more risk of the others dragging the humans into this mess. They will band against us after hearing their twisted story and force our hand. In either case, the lives of the humans will be affected!"

The lion slapped a paw to the ground, raising a smaller cloud of dust. "Both of you have valid points. But," it growled, "you seem to have forgotten the presence of one of the humans _right here_. And surely the others will attempt to find shelter among the life on this planet. If they can find humans with similar wavelengths, they would be able to hide with them and mask their waves behind those of the human. The humans are now a part of this entire problem, with or without our interference."

"Then what do you suppose we do?" hissed the horse. "We cannot attack them without harming the planet's life. We cannot chase them out. We cannot lose them. _Something_ must be given up in the end."

"I propose we take a page from the king's book," the lion stated. "Perhaps the humans will be of some use to us as well. Have you not noticed the wavelengths of this human in the midst of your arguing?"

The dragon tilted its head slightly in consideration. "I...see what you are scheming. It is an interesting plan to say the least. But if we are noticeable in the forms we take now," it huffed, "then it is unlikely that we will be able to hide our presence even if we find compatible humans. Our power does indeed come with a price."

"Interesting, indeed." The horse calmed its aura before sighing. "An odd coincidence, I'd say, to come across this particular human. But to turn to and trust the ideas of _that_ fool disgusts me. And as you have said, we would be unable to lend a hand without becoming noticed. It would be a risky move."

The lion scoffed. "It may disgust you, but what choice do we have? This way seems to be the most efficient and potentially the least harmful. And it may be the best way to help our companion. We can give him a chance to lead in the chase rather than follow, especially since we cannot be directly involved without risking notice."

"I agree," the dragon said. "They do not suspect him in the slightest, so it will be easy to gain a surprise advantage. It seems the benefits outweigh the risks in this case."

"Hmph. Even if I were to disagree, I am outvoted. But I am curious to see how this will play out, so carry on."

_Wow. This actually sounds serious. Wonder if I should tell the Satella Police?_ But if the alien beings were worried about protecting the humans, then they probably weren't harmful. Yet something didn't feel quite right... _Wait, why are my wavelengths or whatever a coincidence?_

"Earthling child."

Well, it was an improvement from slowlife. Subaru narrowed his eyes at the lion, who had undoubtedly been elected to convince him to do whatever they were planning. "Well?" he muttered. "Am I supposed to forget everything I've seen and heard here? Should I suddenly have amnesia with no cause at all? What should it be?"

The lion was smirking again. "Ah, if only things could be that simple. But no. My question for you is this: Do you know of a Hoshikawa Daigo?"

The world froze for a moment. Subaru was sure that his eyes had shot wide open before he could wipe the surprise from his face. _He didn't...he couldn't be the one they're talking about. No. He wouldn't leave to get himself involved with aliens. No. Even he couldn't be so...so... _"Maybe," he answered carefully, cursing the way his breath hitched in this throat. "And why, if I may so rudely ask?"

"Your wavelengths are very similar," the dragon pointed out. "Unless you were related to him in some manner, such similarities are an oddity."

_Similar? To him? Heck no. _He very nearly growled his next few words. "We are not similar in any way. I would have to be a fool in such a case."

The dragon had been shoved to the side by the lion, probably to keep him from infuriating Subaru any further. "I agree with that sentiment wholeheartedly," the lion purred. "And that is why I have a proposition for you."

Careful to keep his voice neutral, Subaru glared at the oversized feline with suspicion. "A proposition?" he asked flatly. "What for?"

"I am sure you overheard our rather loud conversation and can therefore understand what we have in mind. Your planet is now inhabited by several rogue aliens, many of whom are far too powerful for the current technology of your race to handle. We are entrusted with the job of catching or deleting these rogues, but we cannot risk being seen by you humans. You have the ability to remain inconspicuous, we have the ability to defeat them. What better way of catching them than working together?"

"And you would ask this of me, rather than those in charge of dealing with these kinds of things?" He snorted. "I don't see how this is of my concern."

Even the horse seemed slightly taken aback by his lack of urgency. "They may not seem like a problem at the moment," the lion urged, "but they all have the strength and cunning to wipe out your entire species, should they put their minds to it. And they will, once they work out a reason to do so. Their race is one of wicked invaders, and planets of lesser technology such as yours are easy prey for them."

"As I said before, I don't think this is of my concern. They can do whatever they want with Earth. It's not like there's anything worth having here anyways."

"Are you daft, boy?" the dragon eyed him with vague curiosity. "_You_ will be killed along with everybody else as well. Are you that ready to die already?"

"What would I do otherwise?" Subaru spat. "Would you have me put myself in harm's way for the sake of helping everybody else? It's not like _they've_ done anything to merit me putting my life at stake. I, for one, can hardly see how death could be any worse than life so far."

The lion failed to respond, while the dragon merely tilted its head. The horse, on the other hand, looked on with newfound interest. "You don't want to put your life at stake, yet you say you'd enjoy death? You hypocrite," it chuckled. "Perhaps you are more interesting than I first believed."

Subaru bristled at the comment and opened his mouth to make a retort. The horse beat him to it. "Then maybe we should offer you a deal rather than a partnership," it said slyly.

"And I would still say no. Just leave me be, and I won't tell anybody about your little problem," he fired back before turning to leave as quickly as possible.

"Not even if it involves your father?"

Subaru's fingers twitched, but he continued to walk away. "That man is dead to me. His issues are of no importance."

The horse sighed in mock disappointment. "And here I was, thinking that you'd want to see him again to talk. It's too bad that you'll never be able to then."

Though it held itself as if defeated, the horse's eyes gleamed with satisfaction when the boy stopped. "Do you mean to say that you know where he is?" Subaru asked hesitantly.

"I was going to offer you the chance to meet with him again," the blue being confessed, eyes flashing, "but I suppose you truly don't care. It's a shame, really."

A few uncomfortable seconds passed before Subaru reluctantly turned around to face the three giants. "And how exactly do you propose I lure out the ones you're chasing?" he inquired. "They'd be more likely to attack me than expose themselves, wouldn't they?"

Sensing the change in emotion, the dragon drew itself back to a more dignified stance. "We wouldn't send you in unprepared. Do give us a little credit," it said loftily.

"Indeed," the lion cut in again. "There is an...interesting method, I should say, that may be only available to you."

"With what we can give you, you'd be able to match their power," the horse explained, aura now calmly swirling around itself. "Of course, the amount of power you'd actually wield would depend on your ability to use it to its full potential. As for luring them out..." it smiled cruelly, eyes sparkling in anticipation, "we'll leave that to your discretion."

It sounded tempting enough, but Subaru's eyes still held no trust. "Show me," he demanded.

The dragon smirked. "With pleasure," it declared, flicking its tail in a random gesture. Another brief flash of light blinded the boy for the third time that evening- _Really, no sense of courtesy_- before fading to reveal a much smaller being, only a few inches taller than him at most. It seemed a little mismatched in comparison to the other three, sporting blue armor, a green aura, and slitted red eyes.

Subaru studied the being with interest. _And...of course it has teeth. When don't they have teeth?_ He did feel much more inclined to prefer this one to the others though. It didn't look like it could squish him.

The being merely fixed its eyes upon its observer, giving little insight to its thoughts through its blank gaze. Subaru held the staring contest for another few moments before turning back to the smug faces of the other three, shivering at the almost familiar look in the smaller one's eyes.

But he was determined to keep the upper hand in this battle (although the ability of the three giants to step on him made this a rather difficult task), so he tried his best to sound indifferent. "So...what's he supposed to do? Is he a dog or something?"

"A dog?" the dragon scoffed. "How insulting. He is a Denpa life form, just as the rest of us are. We are far more advanced than the pathetic beings you call dogs." Its tail lashed about angrily, barely missing the lion.

The feline heaved a sigh at its companion's agitation. "Patience, Dragon," it growled. "Do you expect him to understand with merely a glance?"

"Hmph. I daresay that you are already attached to the boy, Leo," the horse snorted. "And yet neither of you has explained any of this to him, nor introduced him to our friend here."

The dragon glared at the prideful horse. "And neither have you, Pegasus. If you truly believe yourself to be the _leader_ of our little group, then lead by example, not words."

"I never claimed to be the leader, but if you are so hopeful for me to be it, then why should I disappoint you?" It smirked at the dragon's fury before returning to the annoyed child in front of them. "This one here," it said, "is called War-Rock. He was once one of the proudest warriors of our home planet."

Slightly put-off at being ignored yet again, Subaru frowned. _Was once? Then what…no, that doesn't have to do with me right now. It doesn't matter._ "Fine," he muttered. "Then am I supposed to sic him on your runaways or something?"

"If he were able to defeat them that easily, then we would have sent him to do so ourselves," the still angry dragon snapped. Subaru could almost hear the _"you idiot"_ at the end of its statement. Touchy, that one was.

"It is as he says," the horse confirmed. "What we had in mind was…a bit different from sending War-Rock to fight alone. And yet…" Its gaze drifted between War-Rock and Subaru before it shook its flaming mane. "Perhaps it would be easier to demonstrate rather than explain."

Subaru caught a brief flash of surprise across War-Rock's face as the alien turned its attention to the taller being. He expected a complaint or question, but the alien remained mute. Was something wrong with it? _And what does that have to do with you? Stop worrying over stupid things! Besides, what was Pegasus talking about?_

"Demonstrate what, exactly?" he probed, feeling his muscles tense as the horse looked on almost greedily.

"It's nothing major, really," it retorted. "To put it simply, we are going to have you and War-Rock perform a _Denpa Henkan_."

Subaru frowned in confusion. "A…Denpa Henkan? Wave change?"

Pegasus nodded in response. "But it truly would be easier to demonstrate it. War-Rock, would you please?"

"Huh?" Stumbling back as the small alien focused on him again, Subaru glanced between the advancing War-Rock and the smirking horse. "W-wait! I didn't say you could do that!"

"Don't be so frightened," Leo purred, hungrily grinning. "It won't hurt you at all."

"But-!"

"Just think of it as a little experiment." Fangs glinting brightly, Dragon was quite content to watch as Subaru nervously backed away.

War-Rock, on the other hand, looked a little apprehensive as he approached. Eyes wide in fright, Subaru watched as the alien turned to glance at the winged horse again.

Pegasus pawed the ground in anticipation. "Go on," it urged.

Subaru could swear War-Rock hesitated before facing him again. Was that regret in the alien's eyes? In his puzzlement, he stopped moving backward for a split second. War-Rock, sensing an opportunity, took advantage of the opening and shot across the short distance separating them before the boy could jump away.

The glowing red eyes and gaping maw of the alien rapidly advanced on the startled child. Subaru managed to draw half of a breath before it was knocked right out of him, War-Rock having slammed into him. From their collision a blinding light burst forth, washing the area over with a green hue. And the forms of Subaru and War-Rock, who were at the center of the explosion, were quickly consumed by the glow until both had faded out of existence.


End file.
